Say What??? Rush Limbaugh To RNC: Republicans Aren’t Narrow Minded

On Monday, Rush Limbaugh (pictured) rebuked what’s been branded as an “autopsy” by the Republican National Committee that chronicles the GOP’s failures and ways in which the party can best move forward. Despite evidence to the contrary — statements and legislation by Republican officials, plus the right-wing media folks who embolden them — the conservative radio talk show host said of the report, “I’m sorry, but we’re not disrespectful to anybody. Look at what these focus groups have got these poor guys believing. Look at this, [GOP critics say,] ‘Our party is narrow minded.’ Republicans are not narrow minded.”

Unfortunately, it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks, especially if your biggest trick — being a racist and sexist blowhard — is the key to keeping your estate lit.

So it’s no wonder he is fighting any suggestion that Republicans embrace progressive attitudes about social issues:

If the party makes that [gay marriage] something official that they support, they’re not going to pull the homosexual activist voters away from the Democrat Party, but they are going to cause their base to stay home and throw their hands up in utter frustration.

Rush goes on:

Whether they like it or not, the Republican Party’s base is sufficiently large that they cannot do without them and their problem is they don’t like them. It really isn’t any more complicated than that.

Actually, if the GOP continues to fight against issues like marriage equality, they’ll probably alienate younger conservatives. In a “Meet the Press” interview, Wisconsin Republican Governor Scott Walker, who was addressing Sen. Rob Portman’s (R-OH) recent embracement of equal marriage rights, acknowledged that the next generation of Republicans will expect their party to join the now majority of Americans who also support same-sex marriage.

GREGORY: Are younger conservatives more apt to see marriage equality as something that is, you know, what they believe, that is basic rather than as a disqualifying issue?

WALKER: I think there’s no doubt about that. But I think that’s all the more reason, when I talk about things, I talk about the economic and fiscal crises in our state and in our country, that’s what people want to resonate about. They don’t want to get focused on those issues.

Translation: If we keep talking about why Sam and Shakur should only be allowed to shack up because of religious beliefs they pretend to have we’re going to continue losing.

Now Scott did slither in a comment that “an alternative [to same-sex marriage would be] to not have the government sanction it, period, and leave that up to the churches and the synagogues.” Well, that’s ridiculous and coming from an ahistorical outlook on marriage. Even so, the point is Scott knows fighting gay marriage will prove itself to be a losing issue to Republicans.

The same can be said of restricting reproductive rights, continuing to push voter suppression, insulting Latinos and Hispanics, and alienating the rights of workers while doing handstands on Capitol Hill for the rich on command.

But not to Rush, though.

In fact, Rush has a theory about an organization he believes is en route to irrelevancy: the Catholic Church.

I would say the Catholic church is on its way to irrelevancy if it doesn’t start distancing itself from the Democrat Party and idea that liberalism equals charity. It doesn’t equal charity, but that’s how they got ‘sucked in.’ And they weren’t the only ones.

Ever the showman, Rush Limbaugh is just doing what Rush Limbaugh does. However, when looking at all of the aforementioned circumstances, who do you think stands out as the most likely to drift away into obscurity the soonest?

Michael Arceneaux is a Houston-bred, Howard-educated writer and blogger. You can read more of his work on his site, The Cynical Ones. Follow him on Twitter: @youngsinick